The Kodiak-Kenai Cable Company (KKCC) announced plans to finance, design, build and operate an express undersea fiber optic cable connecting Asia and Europe on Wednesday afternoon.

The undersea fiber optic cable will be routed through the Arctic. The ArcticLink is expected to be completed in 2013, and will enhance global broadband connectivity by providing superior Internet capacity, security and latency compared to existing offerings.

Walt Ebell, CEO of the Alaskan-based developer, said via e-mail that the cable is essential to growing telecommunications demands.

“ArcticLink is the answer to the fast-growing telecommunications demands created by the globalized economy,” Ebell said. “Creating this international broadband expressway through the Arctic will allow unprecedented capacity, unmatched security and reliability, and a dramatic latency reduction. Connecting these three continents directly is truly historic.”

The project is slated to begin construction in 2011. The 10,000-mile undersea fiber optic ArcticLink utilizes a politically stable and secure route running through Japan, the United States, Canada, Greenland, the Arctic region, and the United Kingdom.

The project will also utilize four, 40 gigabit per second sub sea fiber pairs, providing four times the existing capacity per wavelength for a combined system capacity of 6.4 terabits per second. It will also have record setting latencies of less than 90 milliseconds. That is nearly a 50 percent reduction compared to today’s preferred Asia-Europe route latency times.

To develop the ArcticLink, KKCC, which is owned by Alaska Native Corporations, Old Harbor Native Corporation and Ouzinkie Native Corporation, joined with KhaNNET and formed the Arctic Cable Company, LLC (ACC). KhaNNET is a member of the Khanjee family of companies, a company that develops infrastructure for all sectors of the energy industry, large project financing, telecommunications and real estate projects around the world.

ACC will lead the international consortium to finance, design, engineer, build and operate the undersea project.

Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications, LLC (Tyco) has helped to lay the foundation for the ArcticLink project through its efforts on another large KKCC project, the Northern Fiber Optic Link and on preliminary design evaluations on the Arctic route.

The project has already garnered important support, including the United States Arctic Research Commission, for the direct positive impacts that will be created for Arctic data gathering and analysis capabilities important to science and security.

Ebell said he is anticipating the benefits from the project.

“We truly look forward to what this project will mean for our nation, our neighbors and our allies in the Pacific Rim and Europe,” Ebell said. “The near-term economic benefits will be enormous, while the long-term capabilities enabled by the ArcticLink will immensely improve international communications and security.”

Ebell and ACC representatives have been invited to formally announce ArcticLink on Sunday at the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) 2010 conference in Honolulu.  Additionally, the group will hold private meetings with several international telecommunications firms and large users at PTC to discuss its plans and schedules.